The Art and Vision of Chris Blum

ABOUT THE WORK OF CHRIS BLUM

“Blum’s work defies classification outside of its consistent excellence. His newest work humorously crosses the boundaries of convention in their biting take on hot topics of the day: food, politics, romance and sex, though not necessarily in that order. He uses his far-reaching creative imagination to give his ideas full expression; creating detailed, saturated artwork with esoteric twists.”
–Candace Baron, AZ/NY Gallery

“Like a good court Jester, Chris’s carefully crafted puns amuse us. The vivid images grab our attention immediately; the shrewd observations provide an instant giggle. We feel clever, and then later as we ponder Chris’s irreverence, we wonder whom the joke is on.
Only the truth will set us free, they say.”
– Maryna Hrushetska Art Curator, former Museum Director

“Blum is never sure if he wants to be funny or satirical, so he often ends up being both. That opens the door for almost anything, as long as it’s paradoxical, the kind of ledge he likes working on. One of his box art pieces—a grand mandala of a thing—is called ‘The Eye Is Never Full.’ For Chris Blum, this is true indeed.”
–Larry Levinger, Journalist/Critic

Chris Blum’s box art demonstrates a clever ability to juxtapose an assortment of objects within a defined container to create a new aesthetic relationship from the detritus of civilization. In Blum’s boxes there is a sureness of a carefully arranged message gained from viewing the box and the title of the box simultaneously. When one looks at the dried-out puffer fish resting gracefully in the foreground of an architectural landscape and then reads the title “Oh No-Another Frank Gehry Building,” one is amused by the visual joke. What I like most about Chris Blum’s work is the combined evidence of a skilled artist and a curiously clever mind who seems to have a lot of fun provoking the viewer to look and think at the same time.
–Jennifer Garden, Curator, Napa Valley Museum